CONCLUDING ACTIVITIES OF THE BALKAN 2 – FORMEZ PROJECT

In the period 5-14 May 2008 in Italy, the concluding part of the training course within the Balkan 2 project took place, titled as “Development and strengthening of the local and central public administration”, funded by the Ministry of foreign affairs of Italy, with the Law 84 from 2001, with the aim to support the process of modernisation and strengthening of the local and central Balkan administration.

The study trip to Italy was organised by Formez (an Italian governmental training institution) and included a certain number of civil servants and experts from the Ministries of culture of Serbia, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Monte Negro (Zoran Pavlov MA from the Office for Protection of Cultural Heritage was the representative from Macedonia). This trip included a series of meetings within the Ministry of cultural heritage in Italy and other public and private organisations that are active in the cultural sector, including visits to certain cultural sites as well as the possibility for familiarisation with new contemporary trends, activities and methods in the field of protection of cultural heritage and cultural management. At the same time, this was an opportunity to acquire new practical experiences in the collaboration with the local self-government and opportunity for decentralisation in this field.

The participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with various experiences in the Italian cultural development and their cultural cooperation with the Balkans and discuss the possible projects for cooperation with Italian entities for financial assistance from the European Union and other international organisations.

After the conclusion of the study trip, the participants took part in the Transnational seminar titled “Protection of architectural, cultural and natural heritage from natural and anthropological dangers and disasters” which took place on the 12 th of May 2008 in Rome and was focused on the planned and accepted safety methods and activities for protection of cultural heritage.

The final conference was held on the 13 th of May 2008 which was attended by the project staff as well as representatives from the Balkan institutions, and heads of departments within the ministries of foreign affairs, the Ministry of cultural heritage, Ministry of environment and the Department for civil and territorial protection of Italy.

In order to achieve a consistent implementation of the sustainability of the Balkan 2 project on national level, the ministries that participated in the project will be able to use to common portal where the materials will be published from the latest activities in Italy, the transnational seminar and final conference, whereby the Project will continue to develop and expand with future activities.